


A Thousand And One Ways

by SnaKewrites



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, future every other pairing possible probably, word challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-20 09:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6001092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnaKewrites/pseuds/SnaKewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Word challenge fics for Miraculous Ladybug!  Most will be shippy in some kind of way. Almost all will be one shot drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aberration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> K writes a fluffy and somewhat happy/sad drabble on Chat Noir and Ladybug!

Word 1, Aberration- deviating from the right path or usual course of action

 

Everything about that day lulled into repetition. The villain appeared, caused mischief, then revealed their fatal flaw to Ladybug and Chat Noir, causing them to fall. Everything had been done before, and Chat found himself anticipating the next move, the way to use “Lucky Charm” and even the plan his lady had laid out for him. He knew he'd grab the horn, toss it, and then it would be time to leave. Again. The first few drops of a chilly rain began to fall as Ladybug formulated her plan.  


The villain this time could cause people to tell jokes with reckless abandon with his horn. As expected, the city soon fell into turmoil and chaos. The akuma was sitting in it, smugly, Chat thought to himself with a grin. He would fix that with the help of his lady, of course. A thought came to him, suddenly, intrusive and loud. What if he revealed himself to Ladybug? He knew she would never do such a thing, so it would be him or never. A dejected honk broke into his train of thought, as he had mindlessly been avoiding the attacks.

“Chat! Grab the horn!” Ladybug called to him from the other side of the villain, not waiting for a reply as she set about her task. Chat forgot why the bad guy was dressed as a clown, but he didn't really care. The clown was facing Ladybug as she tossed something at the guy, so Chat slipped up behind him and grabbed the horn from the ground, springing back when the clown threw his arm back to try and catch him. A small chuckle escaped from his lips, and the clown dropped into a position to run with a determined look on his face.  


As the clown charged, squeaking in his shoes, Chat tossed the horn over to Ladybug. The clown ran headfirst into a tree, causing a shower of and smirked, managing to call out a “Anything for you, my lady,” with a bow before she stepped on and broke the horn with one last honk of despair. The akuma flew out, and everything happened as it did every day. The clown melted away, leaving a very confused business man. He must have been fired or something for pulling a prank, Chat Noir pondered to himself as Ladybug waltzed over, as she did the last twenty something times they had gone at this. It was time to change things up.  


“Hey, nice job today, Chat. That was the quickest we ever dispatched an akuma.” She giggled, and Chat's face lit up. Yes, he told himself, you can do this.  


“Fighting clowns is no laughing matter, my lady,” he slid into a kneel, taking and miming kissing her hand. She laughed him off, not chastising him for the horrible pun or for the act of affection. With his mind made up, he decided he should ask her, at the very least before he transformed back. His miraculous beeped. It was happening one way or another.  


“Hey, Ladybug, I was wondering...” he trailed off as a few reporters appeared at the scene, and talked to the man on the ground. He seemed so confused at all the noise. Ladybug tilted her head, letting him know he should continue. He grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the street. “Not right here, follow me.”  


They lept a few buildings over, and slid down into a closed off alleyway. His miraculous beeped again, letting him know his time was almost up. Ladybug looked at him, concern in her voice. “Shouldn't you be going, Chat? You're about to transform back!” She tried to push him in the direction of the alley's opening. He stayed put.  


“I, well...” he began, rubbing the back of neck. It suddenly seemed like less of a good idea. No backing out now, he thought, saying “I wanted you to know who I am. Not Chat Noir, but me. Normal me.” Shocked filled her face and she tried to say something, but she just gaped at him like a goldfish. “If you don't want me to, I can-”  


“No! It's not that I don't want to know, but...” She cut him off, having found her voice again. “It's just... I mean... It isn't a good idea. What if someone sees?” She stared into his eyes, blue into green. She was so concerned for him. She glanced at his miraculous, and he looked down too, seeing the flash of emergency before it forced him to transform back into Adrien.  


“I guess you don't want to know. Then know this, my lady. I love you, and I always will. Me or him.” He stared back at her, and surprised himself, pulling her into a kiss. She still smelled like a baking shop, but then she always did. It was brief, and probably made her hate him, but the pull of transformation hit him as he jumped out of the alley onto a roof and back down the other side of the wall. If she really wanted to know, she could hop over and see him there.  


Plagg sat on his shoulder, saying something about being reckless, and Adrien slid down the wall until he was sitting. Then the realization of what he did hit him like a brick to the stomach , and he covered his face with his hands. He had kissed his love, Ladybug, after asking her if she wanted to know who he really was. His head was swimming, and he let out a shaky laugh. What if she didn't return his feelings? What if she hated him now? What if- he stopped himself. He could wait until next time to figure this out, and relish the moment now. His cheer quelled the worry bubbling in his chest.  


“I guess this day turned out to be different after all, huh?” he said to himself, softly. The rain started coming down a bit harder, and Plagg mentioned heading home before catching a cold, so Adrien pulled himself up the wall, and set off home. He had a spring in his step, his worries seeming to fly away, her blue eyes staring into his. Tomorrow is another a day, he thought. And it should be a good one.

Ladybug stood in the alleyway, petrified, as the rain started falling a bit faster around her. Her miraculous beeped at her, stirring her into action. She swung out of the alley, and headed home. She made in onto her roof, transforming back as she swung the hatch closed. The rain hit the windows a little harder, and she curled up into a ball, laying on the floor, comfort abandoned.  


Her feelings wrapped an ice cold sheet around her heart, and her stomach seemed to be flying still in the rain. Tikki sat on the floor in front of her, and looked with worry on Marinette. “Are you okay? A lot happened today. You had a chance to find out who Chat Noir is, but instead he kissed you!” When Marinette was reminded of the kiss, she curled into a tighter ball. Strangely, the sheet lifted from her chest. She remembered being kissed, and the way Chat had jumped out of the alleyway as if he was jumping from a pit of snakes. She heard him transform back, and had been tempted to jump over and find him, but she was reminded of how he had looked at her before he changed his mind. He really did have strong feelings for her.  


“Well, Tikki, I guess it felt wrong to find out, after he kissed me like that,” she uncurled and moved to sit on her chair, swiveling around to face a picture of Adrien. She paused for a second, before spinning back around and pulling her knees up to her chest. Adrien! She had crushed on him for so long, it was so easy to just pretend it was him who kissed her. How could she ever confuse the two? They were so different, and yet... she found herself thinking back to kiss. How open and vulnerable Chat Noir was. His eyes so green.  


She hadn't thought about Chat Noir's eyes like she had the opportunity to do today. They reminded her of spring time, and of trees. Surprisingly, she found she didn't mind what Chat had done earlier, and actually enjoyed it. Could she really love both Chat Noir and Adrien? She found herself dwelling on the memory and the thoughts stemming from it for a few moments, but was shaken from them when her mother called her down to eat. She looked out the window, and was surprised to see the rain had let up, and the sun was sitting low in the horizon, about to set How long had she sat there, thinking? Tomorrow is another day, Marinette thought as she bounded down the stairs to dinner. And it was going to be a good one.


	2. 33-Cryptic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds a cryptic note, seemingly written for Adrien. She reads it, and finds it is addressed to “a golden belled shadow” despite having the address of her crush on it.

Cryptic- Secret; Having secret meaning

 

Marinette gathered her things together from her desk, getting ready to go out and see a movie with Alya when she spotted a piece of paper laying on floor next to Adrien's seat. It was a well folded, but not worn, sheet of paper with something typed on the other side. Looking around the room, she saw everybody had left except for Alya and Nino, who were talking right outside the door, passing the time. She realized she had left Alya waiting, so she grabbed the paper, and slipped it into her bag. Marinette proceeded to walk over to the door, trying to act as if she hadn't just picked up something of Adrien's. 

As she walked through the door, Alya grabbed her by the wrist, and dragged her off. Marinette managed to wave over at Nino before he disappeared from view. “We're going to be late to the movie, Marinette!” Alya chastised her as they walked out of the school doorways. “And you really wanted to go see this one, yeah?” Marinette watched as her friend pulled out her phone to check the time, and tried to formulate an excuse without giving away what she had been doing.

“I... um... I was making sure I wrote down the homework from tonight! Yeah, that's it!” she managed to sputter out as Alya increased her pace. Nice one, Marinette, she thought. That was smooth, really smooth. Alya just quirked her eyebrow and continued moving rapidly towards the theater. “We do have time to get there, right?” she asked, looking for a bus. She was pretty sure the buses went around the city in the direction they were going.

“Yeah, we do. We should be able to get there without taking the bus, seeing as how its going the other way, silly.” Alya laughed as they rounded a corner. Marinette sighed, realizing they would have to walk three more blocks. Her feet were already killing her after the marathon she ran last night, trying to catch a villain. “What was the movie again? Wasn't it the one with a cat?”

“No, that's the last one we went to go see. This one is about superheroes! It came originally from the United States, I think.” Marinette responded to Alya without thinking, going on and on about the movie they were walking to.

The time passed quickly, and before Marinette knew it, they had walked into the theater. She walked up to the counter behind Alya, who paid for the tickets. “Come on, Marinette! Go grab us some popcorn! I like kettle corn.” Alya put the tickets in her pocket, and turned to look at Marinette expectantly.

“I bought the popcorn last time! You know how long it took!” Marinette protested, but was pushed into the line by Alya, who retreated from the area, and waved. Marinette didn't tell hear exactly what her friend said, but it was something about getting seats. One long and boring line later, Marinette speed walked to the designated room, and hoped she could find Alya before the movie started. She wasn't hard to find, having sat it the middle of the walkway seats. Marinette found herself sat down in a seat as the commercials stopped. The movie opened with a scenic view of a park with sunset lighting. The rest passed in a blur of explosions and beautiful destruction. It was all Marinette could ask for.

After the movie, Marinette walked home with Alya, excitedly recounting the movie to her, despite having been there with her for an hour or two watching it. They walked to the street corner where they parted to walk home, and Marinette pulled Alya into a hug. “Thanks for watching this with me!” she parted from Alya, and spun around to quickly walk home, as the sun was setting.

“Of course, Marinette! See ya tomorrow!” Alya called from half a street back, as Marinette had covered the distance with long strides. Marinette rushed home, called a greeting to her parents, and flopped down onto her bed. The movie still fresh in her mind, she spent a moment to daydream before getting back up to do her homework. After she completed it, a simple worksheet on math theories, she pulled out her other notebook. The slip of paper fell out with it, landing softly on her desk. 

Marinette whispered to the note “What have we here...” before she opened it. It was addressed to one “golden belled shadow”. She hummed as she skimmed over the note. The more she read, the more confused she got. Tikki climbed up onto her desk, and looked curiously at the note. Marinette decided to make it easier for Tikki, and read it aloud. 

“To one Golden Belled Shadow:  
I know who you are. You flit through the night, and true to your name, have gold trailing behind you.  
Who I am in not important, but know this: Another one's identity I know, too.  
I know the other half of you, golden belled shadow. The luck you pray to every night.  
I know who your love is, in and out of the mask they wear to fight.  
You should also know them, but you do not, shadow.  
I can tell you, for a price, who wears the mask. You can find me in the alcove.  
Come quick, golden belled shadow. You have until tomorrow's sunset.  
The information will otherwise be offset.  
-NA”

“Wow, Tikki! Who was this written for? This isn't for Adrien at all!” Marinette slumped against her desk, head cradled between her arms. “Ugh. And here I was, hoping to be able to return something to him!” She mumbled this through her arms, sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest and  
spinning around in her chair, dejected. “It's even written like poetry!”

“It's okay Marinette! Maybe he was writing it to somebody!” Tikki flitted down to sit on Marinette's shoulder, only recently accessible as she had slowed her spin of despair. “You can just sit it on the floor next to his desk again! It's okay!” At this, Marinette picked her head up and dropped her knees. She nodded in agreement before picking up the note, folding it so “Golden Belled Shadow” was on the outside, and put it back into her backpack.

“Thanks, Tikki. I should get to sleep. Surprised nothing happened tonight.” Marinette managed to suppress a yawn, and turned back towards her bed, setting her backpack next to the hatch to her room.

“Yeah. Good night Marinette!” Tikki said as she went back to sitting on the desk, curling up there like a kitten. Marinette picked her up, and cradled her in her arms. She went to lie down, already in pajamas. The lights were off, and Marinette fell asleep quickly, dreaming about a golden belled shadow leaping rooftop to rooftop.


End file.
